Re: "The Times-Picayune and NOLA.com are here to stay," Page A1, June 17.

I've held off making up my mind about New Orleans' Great Digital Revolution until I read something about the finances behind the decision.

Now, with Ricky Mathews' explanation of the numbers driving the decision, I am reconciled to it. Just don't ask me how I'll adjust -- grandpa has "issues" with the e-world.

I'll miss the randomness of what's spread out before me in a printed paper. For example, online I'll bet I would never have noticed a recent article about a ballad singer.

But this sort of thing has already happened to me. I don't read law books anymore -- I go online.

It is vastly quicker, but I miss seeing the case on the other page that's just what I need for another problem.

The partial loss of a print paper is more serious than the loss of a law book.

Now, locally, as appears to have happened nationally, there might be less community, knit together partly by the random notice of this or that article. Instead, each of us will more likely read only the "news that fits."

Equally, there might be a loss of the random electricity that sparkles through this uniquely bizarre city.